Rolling Stone Cover Designs

 Rolling Stone is a bi-weekly magazine, based and founded in San Francisco which has been in publication since 1967. It is highly respected due to it's continuing quality and that level of quality is apparent in the often simple but always appealing designs of its covers. The magazine is mainly music based although also features political reporting as well as stories on other forms of media such as movies and television and the covers reflect this with the celebrity on them usually being a music star with the occasional tv or movie star taking their place.
The image to the left is the standard example of a Rolling Stone cover, a full body shot of a  pop star, in this case Taylor Swift, against a white background, surrounded by text, in front of the magazine title with their head obscuring part of it. This formula is changed up slightly every so often. Sometimes the celebrity photo may just be a shot of their head or from the waist up, sometimes the background might be more grey then white but it is always close enough to the tried and true formula that the brand is instantly recognizable to potential customers while on the shelf. Older issues had the title sat in front of the celebrity and it was often presented in different colours. Over the years however they have established a brand witch includes red typography for the title. This has now became so iconic that they are able to obscure it with the celebrity photo so that the subject of the magazine takes priority as that is the reason the casual buyer will spend money on it. They are able to do this however, safe in the knowledge that as long as some of their logo is on show, people will recognize the magazine. Because of this the loyal buyer and the casual shopper will be drawn to the magazine immediately. Very occasionally, usually upon the death of a very influential celebrity (such as Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash and Lou Reed) all conventions will be thrown out and instead an image witch is an appropriate tribute will be used. In all three examples the cover featured a head shot of the celebrity in question looking directly into the camera against a dark background. In the case of Lou Reed it was a photo of his younger self which had been given colour to signify his personality and music as that of a wild rebellious and colourful nature. Johnny Cash's tribute issue used an old grainy black and white photo of him looking particularly haggard, which again, reflects his music and personality. It is the Steve Jobs issue however which is of most interest as it is one of the only instances in the magazines history in which no photograph at all is used and instead a digital painting is employed which is fitting given the mans career as a the CEO of Apple Inc.


Images Taken From:
http://cbsnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/rolling-stone_taylor-cover-r1168cover.jpeg
http://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/980w/public/2013/07/19/jim_morrison.jpg?itok=Pimi6nY1
http://img004.lazyboys.info/people/kurt_cobain/kurt_cobain_kurt_cobain_rolling_stone_cover_jpg_jpeg_image_406_500_pixels__VIXvDXec.sized.jpg
http://returntofleet.files.wordpress.com/2012/12/rolling-stone-cover-steve-jobs-by-richard-davies-turksworks-art-graphic-design-digital-illustration-painting.jpg
http://www.laweekly.com/imager/are-rihannas-booty-shorts-photoshopped-on/b/big/2461262/159b/Rihanna_Rolling_Stone_Magazine_Cover_540x747.jpg
http://grandcentralblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/aguilera1.jpg

Innapropriate and Banned Use of Graphic Design

The image to the left is a french poster from Amnesty International designed to spread awareness of torture and its deep flaws. It shows a bloody and battered Iggy Pop and below him is a quote saying that Justin Bieber is the future of Rock n roll. The idea being that these are sentiments that someone like Iggy Pop would never share or believe under normal circumstances but people will say whatever their captor wants to hear to avoid more torture. Therefore as a method of obtaining information, torture is unreliable. The gruesome nature of this image is arguably justifiable as it is trying to illicit change for the better and the shock of this image is more likely to make people act than a more mundane poster that people would quickly forget about. This image is still inappropriate however because Amnesty did not get permission to use Iggy Pops image and simply Photoshopped an unflattering image of him with a caption designed to put forward a view which is the opposite of what he believes on a poster delivering a political message that they have no way of knowing whether or not he agrees with.


This image shows Lauren Phoenix, a well known porn star. It shows her sitting naked on a couch wearing a pair of tube socks. The implication is that she is just about to film or has just finished filming an adult film and kept the socks on during as she likes them so much. This on its own would make for a very inappropriate advert however in the bottom corner of the image it also encourages its clientele to Google Lauren so that you can view her films, making this not only an advert for American Apparel socks but also for pornographic films. 


The image below is a billboard expressing a distaste for religious people trying to force their views on others. It does not have an anti-religious sentiment and expresses the view that religious people are of course entitled to their beliefs however where this billboard is inappropriate is not in its message but rather in the imagery it evokes. It compares religion to a penis with the final line being "PLEASE don't try to shove it down mt children's throats." This of course conjures up the idea of children in sexual situations for no good reason and has the power to make people very uncomfortable and offended with no justification.

Images Taken From:
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http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/03/29/article-2301242-18FA5293000005DC-879_964x927.jpg
http://k08.kn3.net/0B3102447.jpg
http://therongolianstar.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/banned_ads_1_20110826_1299141510.jpg
http://wa1.www.therock.net.nz/portals/0/content/funnyshit/religion-penis-11.jpg
http://cdn.trendhunterstatic.com/thumbs/new-zealand-police-recruitment.jpeg

Semiotics

Signifier and signified

A signifier can be a word image or object that represents something whereas a signified is what it represents. They can have a number of relationships between each other but 2 that stand out are that you can have 1 signifier with numerous signifieds and that you can have different signifiers with 1 signified.  For example the sign to the right is the signifier and elderly people is what is signified, however it can also mean that drivers must be cautious. Similarly a signifier for elderly people can be the sign but can also be the sound of their voice.

Icon

An icon is an image which represents something else. It has some degree of resemblance to what it is representing however this can vary from a small simple shape to a very detailed portrait or photograph. The image on the left represents an icon used often to represent the red hot chili peppers whereas the photo on the right of the band can also be considered an icon.

Index

When there is a causal link between the signifier and the signified the relationship is said to be indexical. For example smoke is a signifier and is caused by fire, ticking is representative of , and is caused by, a clock and when a recorded voice is the signifier a person speaking is the signified. For example this trail of destruction to the right was caused by and therefore signifies a hurricane.

Intention

The intention behind an image causes us to see it in a different light. the more or less we know about the artist and the creation of an image colours our view of it. Knowing the political or religious beliefs of the artist may cause us to see meaning in an image which is not there for example. The image to the left for example shows a man dressed peculiarly  stood in front of a line of policemen. At first and with no other information to go on this seems fairly nonsensical  and abstract however after the popularity of the movie V for Vendetta, these clothes and that mask have come to represent revolution and protest of the government and so suddenly the man as well as the police take on a new more sinister meaning.

Noise

Noise in this context is the distortion or alteration of the meaning of a message.  As language, both written and spoken changes the meanings of symbols are often lost in the passage of time due to misinterpretation.

Destination

The destination of a message is essentially when it is received and decoded. However due to the quality of the message, the ambiguity of a message, or the failure of the transmission of a message, what arrives at it's destination is not always the same message that was sent.  To the right is the cross of saint Peter which , due to the noise which affects its message, has in modern times stopped representing the saint and has reached its destination as a satanist symbol effectively meaning the opposite of what it is supposed to stand for.


Images taken from:
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http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63909000/jpg/_63909392_lemlattimernyc.jpg
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http://www.justpushstart.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/rock-band-cutting-list.jpg
http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-700/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/1/1238597223398/G20-Protests-G20-Protest--003.jpg
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